Petition against Japan MP’s anti-LGBTI comments reaches 25,000

25,000 people in Japan have signed an online petition against an MP over her anti-LGBTI sentiments.

The petition has demanded an apology from Mio Sugita, who caused a public outcry after describing LGBTI people as ‘unproductive’ because they could not bare children in a magazine article last month, The Mainichi reported.

In the same article she also said that LGBTI people should not be able to claim welfare.

Sugita is a member of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), who have distanced themselves from the lawmaker’s opinions.

This week saw disabled people taking to the streets of Tokyo to protest the comments made by the MP. The group too offence at the lawmaker describing those who could not have children as ‘lacking productivity’.

‘I cannot have children because of the effects of medication. But I don’t believe that human value is decided by the fact of whether one can have children or not,’ one of the disabled protesters, Hiroko Uchiyama, told Kyodo News.

Ongoing saga

Sugita has come under continued fire for several weeks over her magazine article.